All posts by John Hughes

d1b, WONS

The Daigo Taste of the Lotus Sūtra

As I contemplate the Buddhist scriptures, it is stated in the Sūtra of the Golden Splendor (translated by Dharma-Kema), “The Sun Deity and Moon Deity regain their vigor upon hearing this sūtra.” The Sūtra of the Golden Splendor (translated by I-ching) states, “It is due to the power of this sūtra that the sun and moon revolve around the four continents.” That is to say, it is the power of the Buddhist Dharma that causes the sun and moon to circle the four continents. Those two versions of the Sūtra of the Golden Splendor are expedients to the Lotus Sūtra. Compared to the Lotus Sūtra they are like milk against “clarified butter” or gold against a “treasure-gem.” If even the taste of such inferior sūtras can make the sun and moon revolve around the four continents, how much more so can the daigo taste of the Lotus Sūtra accomplish? Therefore, the Sun Deity attended the preaching of the “Introduction” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra as Fukō Tenji (Universal Fragrance), and was granted future Buddhahood as the Kaji Nyorai in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter.

Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Statue of Śākyamuni Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 133-134

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 29, 2021

They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Paradoxically, the process of clarifying our minds so that we can see things for what they are is not an intellectual exercise. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma is not based on learning complicated theories or arcane facts. It can be as simple as chanting Odaimoku sincerely, awakening our nature as Bodhisattvas, and working for the benefit of all beings.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month met the 16 sons of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

“Thereupon the sixteen princes, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, begged the World-Honored One to turn the wheel of the Dharma, saying, ‘World-Honored One! Expound the Dharma, and give peace and many benefits to gods and men out of your compassion towards them!’ They repeated this in gāthās:

You, the Hero of the World, are unequalled.
Adorned with the marks
Of one hundred merits,
You have obtained unsurpassed wisdom.
Expound the Dharma and save us
And other living beings of the world!

Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.

You, the World-Honored One, know
What all living beings have deep in their minds,
What teachings they are practicing,
And how much power of wisdom they have.

You know their desires, the merits they obtained,
And the karmas they did
In their previous existence.
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma!

See To Cut the Causes

b4today, LS32

To Cut the Causes

What happens to us after death? Buddhism teaches that we remain for some time in the state of intermediate existence (chū-u) in this world after death, and when this time is over, in accordance with the karma that we have accumulated in our previous life, we are reborn in another appropriate world. Buddhism also divides this other world into the following ten realms: hell (jigoku), hungry spirits (gaki), animals (chikushō), demons (shura), human beings (ningen), heaven (tenjō), śrāvakas (shōmon), pratyekabuddhas (engaku), bodhisattvas (bosatsu), and buddhas (butsu).

If we die in an unenlightened state, our souls will return to the former state of ignorance, will be reborn in the six worlds (rokudō) of illusion and suffering, and will finally reach old age and death through the twelve stages discussed above. And we will repeat this round to the end of time. This perpetual repetition of birth and death is called transmigration (rinne). But if we purify our souls by hearing the Buddha’s teachings and practicing the bodhisattva-way, the state of ignorance is annihilated, and our souls can be reborn in a better world. The expression “to cut the causes” applies to this state.

Buddhism for Today, p102-104
Foundations

‘Again, it is the meaning of the Middle Path’

pratipat saiva madyamā
The Middle Path means to take a course between two extremes. Two possible extremes are the affirmation of substantial Being on the one hand (“eternalism”), and nihilistic denial of all existence on the other (“annihilationism”). The teaching of śūnyatā denies the extreme view of substantial Being, and the teaching of conventional designation or existence denies the extreme view of nihilism. It is clear that all of these four phrases are different ways to express the same concept. They are various attempts to explain one teaching and one reality. Co-arising, emptiness, conventional existence, and the Middle are not four realities, four separate existences, or four independent doctrines, but four ways to express the same one reality, the Buddha-dharma, which is saṃsāra to us common ignorant mortals and nirvāṇa to a Buddha. Hence the common Mahāyāna proposition that “there is no difference between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.”

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 5-6
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 28, 2021

Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

These verses are sung to the Buddha by the six-year-old daughter of the dragon-king Sāgara in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. She appeared before the congregation when called by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī from whom she had been taught the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Most of those gathered did not believe that such a young creature, much less a female, could reach the same enlightenment as the Buddha. But then before their eyes, she made all the transformations necessary and began to teach the Wonderful Dharma herself.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month heard the assurance of future buddhahood for Mahā-Kāśyapa, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, with the famished man and the king’s supper.

Thereupon Great Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana trembled, joined their hands together with all their hearts, looked up at the World-Honored One with unblenching eyes, and sang in gāthās in unison:

Great Hero, World-Honored One!
King of the Dharma of the Śākyas!
Give us your voice
Out of your compassion towards us!
If you see what we have deep in our minds,
And assure us of our future Buddhahood,
We shall feel as cool and as refreshed
As if we were sprinkled with nectar.

Suppose a man came
From a country suffering from famine.
Now he saw the meal of a great king.
He did not partake of it in doubts and fears.
After he was told to take it by the king,
He took it at once.
We are like that man.
We know the defects of the Lesser Vehicle.
But we do not know how to obtain
The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.

Although we hear you say [to us],
“You will become Buddhas,”
We are still in doubts and fears about it,
Just as that man was about the meal.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood,
We shall be happy and peaceful.

You, the Great Hero, the World-Honored One,
Wish to give peace to all the people of the world.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood, we shall be
Like the man who was permitted to take the meal.

See Reciprocal Bonds

Foundations

‘Again, it is a conventional designation’

sā prajn͂aptirupādāya
We have seen above that “conventional designation,” or that which is referred to by language, is one of the meanings of saṃvṛti [the empirical truth]. Reality is ultimately beyond adequate verbal expression, but we must communicate and “name” things and experiences if we are to live in this mundane world. The objects of our everyday experience can (according to Chih-i) be referred to as existing in the sense of arising interdependently. Our phenomenal world has temporary reality in the sense of an integrated, co-arising, interdependent relationship of causes and conditions. This is called “conventional” existence. One can also see that this is another way of making the same point as was made in the first two lines [All things which arise through conditioned co-arising / I explain as emptiness].

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 5
WONS

Merits in Keeping the Precept of Not Telling a Lie

As we cannot see this with our own eyes, we may wonder whether or not there are sūtras superior to the Lotus Sūtra in India, the Dragon Palace, palaces of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the palaces of the sun and moon gods. Were not the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the gods of the sun and moon, the Four Heavenly Kings and the Dragon King present at the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra? If heavenly gods who were present at the assembly like those of the sun and moon say, “You may not know this but there is a sūtra superior to the Lotus Sūtra,” they are absolute liars. I, Nichiren, would charge them declaring:

It is due to their merits in keeping the precept of not telling a lie that the sun and moon stay high up in the sky as securely as we human beings stand on the earth. If they should utter such a lie as there are sūtras superior to the Lotus Sūtra, they would fall before the Kalpa of Destruction and this world would come to ruin. They would not stop falling until they hit the bottom of the Hell of Incessant Suffering. Such inadmissibly deceiving beings could not possibly remain in the sky even for a while orbiting the four continents which surround Mt. Sumeru.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 6-7.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 27, 2021

World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to śramaṇas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they?

The passage above is how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva greets Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva asks not only about the Buddha, but about those whom the Buddha benefits with his teaching. The Buddha answers that those he teaches have prepared through innumerable lives to receive his wisdom. The questions of Wonderful-Voice show how we obscure the teaching through our delusion and attachments.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com